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Brisket of Beef Stuffed

A boiled brisket stuffed with a breadcrumb and herb dressing, sliced thin and served cold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Brisket of Beef Stuffed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dressing

  1. In a bowl, mix bread crumbs, pepper, salt, sweet herbs, mace, onion, and egg to make the dressing.

  2. Stuff the dressing between the fat and lean parts of the beef and sew it up tightly.

Cook

  1. Boil the beef brisket for 5 to 6 hours.

  2. Flour a cloth, wrap the beef tightly in it, and boil for 5 to 6 hours.

  3. Remove the cloth and press the beef until it cools.

Serve

  1. Slice thinly and serve cold.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beef brisket
Forms the main body of the dish and gives its rich, meaty flavour and texture when cooked slowly.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and add body to the dressing, helping it hold together inside the meat.
Egg
Binds the dressing so it holds its shape when sliced.
Onion
Adds savoury flavour and moisture to the dressing.

The step that matters

Press the beef until it cools. Pressing while the meat cools compresses the layers and helps the stuffing and meat bind into a firm, sliceable block. Pressing too early, while still hot and tender, can squeeze out juices and leave it crumbly.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, bread, pepper, onion, egg):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, bread, pepper, onion, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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